16 Top Bangladeshi food you must try on your visit

Bangladesh is famous for it’s delicious food and desserts. Specialty of Bangladeshi food is they are spicy. Rice is the main Bangladeshi food. Rice, fish curry, and lentil is the most common traditional Bangladeshi food for general people. Bangladesh is also famous for it’s desserts. You will find dozens of sweets, rice cakes, rice puddings, and many other desserts in Bangladesh, mostly made from rice and cow milk. It is a paradise for the food lovers.

List of Top Bangladeshi Food

Here is a list of the top Bangladeshi food someone must try while visiting Bangladesh for an authentic Bangladesh experience. Most of these foods are available to taste on the traditional Bangladeshi restaurants, but some of them are home made food and not available on the restaurants. Only chance to taste them is if you get invited by a Bangladeshi family. Try these famous Bangladeshi food and let us know in the comments how much you like them.

Bangladeshi Breakfast

Paratha

Paratha is an unleavened flatbread in Bangladesh made by baking flour dough on a frying pan, and finishing off with shallow frying. It is layered by coating with oil and folding repeatedly using a laminated dough technique. It is the most popular Bangladeshi food for breakfast in the restaurants, which is normally eaten with vaji (mixed vegetable) or lentil or a mixture of these two together, and with fried eggs.

If you are visiting Bangladesh, the most authentic local way of starting your day would be having a breakfast with paratha, vaji, and egg fry, followed by tea. You can also have Nehari with paratha, which is slow cooked beef shank with lots of gravy – a very popular breakfast with the locals.

Bangladeshi Main Dishes

Kachchi Biryani – Special Bangladeshi Food

Kachchi biryani is usually a featured dish for weddings and social gatherings and celebrations. Layers of meat, rice and potatoes are infused with warm and delectable blends of aromatic spices to prepare kachchi biryani.

The term “kachchi” means raw referring to the biryani ingredients being combined raw in layers instead of first cooking the meat or rice separately. Traditionally, kachchi biryani is cooked in clay oven and the cooking pot is usually sealed with flour dough to allow the biryani to cook in its own steam. The sealed pot is not opened until the biryani is ready to be served.

A simple salad is sufficient as a side for kachchi biryani but traditionally Shami Kabab and chutney are served alongside. Also very popular is to have Borhani with Kachchi biryani, which is a traditional yogurt drink. Kachchi Biryani is the most popular formal Bangladeshi food that you must try at least once while visiting Bangladesh.

Bhuna Khichuri

The Bengali word “Bhuna Khichuri” means browning, mixing or deep frying spices with rice and lentil. It is the richer version of the plain old Khichuri. Bhuna means braised; so this dish is kind of slow cooked to infuse the flavors and the spices as opposed to the simple process of cooking everything together during the other times. You cannot ignore the beautiful aroma while it is braising and cooking!

Bhuna Khichuri could be cooked with different types of meat – beef, mutton (goat), and chicken. Also it can have eggs or prawn added to it. It is a very popular dish for lunch on the traditional Bangladeshi restaurants. Bhuna Khichuri would be number three authentic Bangladeshi food food you must try while visiting Bangladesh.

Patla Khichuri – Romantic Bangladeshi Food

Patla Khichuri is the actual traditional Khichuri of Bangladesh cooked plainly with rice and lentil. It is semi liquid. Usually different seasonal vegetables, spinach, and potatoes are added with it. It is eaten with any meat curry – beef, mutton, or chicken. Also eaten with fried egg or begun bhaja (fried eggplants). Just a tea-spoon of ghee brings out the actual essence of this yummy dish.

Patla Khichuri is a romantic food of Bangladesh. During the heavy rain of a monsson day, a hot plate of patla khichuri with meat is what any traditional Bengali people want! Patla Khichuri is cooked in every village house during the two Eid festivals, the biggest festivals in Bangladesh. When people go to visit other people’s house on any village during Eid, patla khichuri is a much thing to serve with meat curry, along with the special Eid dessert called Semai.

Patla Khichuri is a traditional home made food and not served on the restaurants. Only the Bhuna Khuchuri is served on the restaurants. Only chance of tasting Patla Khichuri is if you are invited to a locals house during a rainy day of monsoon, or in a village house during Eid.

Morog Polao (Chicken Pilaf)

Morog Polao is a very rich flavorful full dish where chicken and rice is cooked with spices, yogurt and clarified butter (ghee). Nowadays to make it little less rich, oil and ghee is used together.

Morog Polao is a very traditional rich item in Bengali cuisine. It is not spicy, and the chicken has a light and yummy taste. It is a treat for meat lovers, because chicken is used in large portions here. It is usually served on special occasions together with the traditional yogurt-drink known as Borhani. Morog Polao would be number four Bangladeshi food food you must try while visiting Bangladesh.

Rice with Curry, Vorta, Vaji, and Daal – Everyday Bangladeshi food

Plain rice is the main food in Bangladesh. It is served with different fish and meet curry, vorta (mash) of different vegetables and fish, vaji (fried) of different vegetables, and patla daal (lentil soup). There is a proverb in Bangladesh – “rice and fish makes the Bengali people”. From this you can understand that fish and rice is the most popular food in Bangladesh.

While visiting Bangladesh, go to any traditional restaurant anywhere in the country, and order rice with different curries, vortas, vajis, and daal. This will be the most traditional way of having a lunch or dinner. You should try this Bangladeshi food for lunch at least once while visiting Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi Evening Snacks

Grilled Chicken with Naan Roti

Grilled Chicken has become very popular in Bangladesh recently. You can find mouth watering grilled chicken almost every street. Chicken is marinated with spices and later grilled on the griller. The chicken is super moist inside but crunchy bits of chars outside makes them taste heavenly. Grilled chickens are normally served with Naan Rooti (oven-baked flatbread), mayonnaise, and simple salads. This is an evening snacks, mostly available after 5.00 pm on the restaurants.

Haleem

Haleem is basically spicy lentil soup very popular in Bangladesh. Haleem is made of wheat, barley, meat (usually minced meat of beef or mutton), different types of lentils, spices, and sometimes rice is also used. This dish is slow cooked for seven to eight hours, which results in a paste-like consistency, blending the flavors of spices, meat, barley and wheat.

Haleem is served with coriander leaves, lemon wedges, chopped ginger, green chili and fried onion. Sometimes it is served with naan or any kind of bread in Bangladesh. This is another evening snacks available almost every restaurant in Bangladesh. Haleem is a special Bangladeshi food you must not miss while visiting Bangladesh. You’ll miss a lot if you do so!

Sheek Kabab

Sheek Kabab is beef or mutton cut in cubic peaces, marinated for a long time with spices, put together on a skewer and bar-b-QED. The main trick of melt in mouth kabab is how to marinate and for how long to marinate it. They are marinated for three hours to two days.

Sheek Kabab is served with Naan Roti and simple salad. It is another evening snacks, available mostly after 5.00 pm on the restaurants. While visiting Bangladesh, try Sheek Kabab at least once on an evening. You will not regret it!

Bangladeshi Street Food

Fuchka

Fuchka is the most popular street food in Bangladesh, served mainly in the evening. It has a unique spicy, sour, crispy taste. It consists of a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a mixture of flavored water, tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. Fuchka use a mixture of boiled mashed potatoes as the filling and is tangy rather than sweetish while the water is sour and spicy.

Bangladeshi Desserts

Misti Doi (Sweet Yogurt)

Sweet Yogurt is a traditional Bengali dessert item which is locally known as Mishti Doi. It is a healthy low fat dessert. No Bengali occasion is complete without Sweet Yogurt and Sweets. It is not your regular yogurt. Also it is not at all runny as curd. It is thick, dense and more like creamy cheese cake.

Misti Doi is made with milk and sugar or jaggery. It differs from the plain yogurt because of the technique of preparation. It is prepared by boiling milk until it is slightly thickened, sweetening it with sugar or jaggery, and allowing the milk to ferment overnight. Earthenware is always used as the container for making Misti Doi because the gradual evaporation of water through its porous walls not only further thickens the yogurt, but also produces the right temperature for the growth of the culture.

Bangladeshi people are very fond of desserts, and sweet yogurt is a popular one after lunch or dinner. Sweet Yogurt is mostly sold on the sweet shops, but also available on the restaurants. In the restaurants, they normally serve it on small cups made of pottery. Sweet Yogurt of Bogra is the most famous in Bangladesh. In Dhaka, Ali-Baba Sweets makes one of the best Sweet Yogurts in Bangladesh.

Doi Chira

Doi Chira is a authentic Bangladeshi food. In this recipe flat rice or chira is soaked several hours in water then mixed with sweet yogurt, sugar, banana or some other sweet fruits. This recipe is a comfort food that will calm any one down. Doi Chira is a Bangladeshi food which is easy to prepare, and involves no cooking. You should try this Bangladeshi food at least once during your visit.

Falooda

Falooda is a cold dessert very popular in Bangladesh. Traditionally it is made from mixing rose syrup, vermicelli, sweet basil (sabza/takmaria) seeds, and pieces of jelly with milk, often topped off with a scoop of ice cream, lastly garnished with chopped fruits. The vermicelli used for preparing falooda is made from wheat, arrowroot, cornstarch, or sago pearls.

Rasmalai

Rasmalai is a unique Bangladeshi delicacy. This Bangladeshi dessert is flattened cheese ball soaked in malai (clotted cream) flavored with cardamom. Malai or clotted cream itself has a unique texture.

Malai is made by heating non-homogenized whole milk to about 80 °C for about one hour and then allowing to cool. A thick yellowish layer of fat and coagulated proteins forms on the surface, which is skimmed off. The process is usually repeated to remove most of the fat.

Rasmalai is available at every sweet shop in Bangladesh. Raasmalai of a sweet shop in Comilla named “Matri Bhandar” is the most famous in Bangladesh. “Alibaba Sweets” in Dhaka also makes good quality Rasmalai. If you are visiting Bangladesh, good quality Rasmalai is a must to taste.

Bangladeshi Drinks

Borhani

This is a spicy yoghurt drink served on weddings or big parties with Biryani, Tehari, Bhuna Khichuri, or Morog Polao. It is a traditional drink and is very easy to make. Borhani balances the spiceness of the main food and it has ingredients like mint, cumin, and yogurt. It also helps digestion.

Bottled borhani is available on the restaurants, but it is the home-made one on the wedding feasts which you need to taste for the actual taste of Borhani.

Sweet Lassi

Lassi is a popular traditional yogurt-based drink from Bangladesh. Lassi is a blend of yogurt, water, spices and sometimes fruit. Lassis are enjoyed chilled as a hot-weather refreshment, mostly taken with lunch. It is a very popular drink in Bangladesh which you must try at least once while visiting Bangladesh.

Raw Hasan ( র. হাসান )

Founder & CEO at Nijhoom Tours

I am the Founder and CEO of Nijhoom Tours, an award winning tour operator in Bangladesh specialized in organizing inbound tours for the foreigners, specially the western tourists. While not traveling or busy with the desk work, I love to write about traveling Bangladesh, one of the least traveled destinations in the world about which not much correct information is available anywhere. Connect with me in Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn for updates and help about visiting Bangladesh.

1 Comment

I love this article about Bangladesh food! I was wondering if you know any cheap street foods that are around Sylhet as I cannot find it online. I am writing a big essay on Bangladesh and I would really appreciate your help

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